In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the path of yoga is very clearly laid out. Book 1 talks about the kind of person who undertakes to stay on the path, and the pitfalls that may arise whilst there. Book 2 talks about the practical part of yoga. It is here that you will find the first mention of hatha yoga – the postural part that we are now familiar with – and the other 7 branches of Astanga Yoga (there are eight limbs in total).
We start with character-building, as Swami Radha calls it in her brilliant book “Kundalini Yoga for the West”. These are the yamas and niyamas. Once this is established, the yogi can then confidently practice asana (postures) and pranayama, (breathwork) leading to pratyahara, or retraction of the senses. I found the concept of pratyahara difficult to understand before directly experiencing its effects. Your path and my path of yoga are each distinct and unique, so I won’t elaborate too much here. But, in my case, pratyahara meant a softening of the impact of external influences – loud noises make me jump less, bright lights don’t annoy, strong smells…well strong smells still bug me. Okay, but you might get the point.
The next limb of Astanga Yoga is dharana, or concentration. This is not, note, meditation, which is dhyana. Dharana is the ability to focus the mind on a single object for increasingly long periods of time. Eventually, one become “one” with the object, and enters into samana with it. This is the beginning of Book 3 of the sutras. The object can be something external like an icon or candle, or it can be more subtle, like the breath or the heartbeat.
Still, the point I want to make here is that dharana, and eventually dhyana, are the fruits of previous practice. I was a terribly meditator. For years I fidgeted on my zafu, wondering where all the mental peace was. Well, the answer is it’s coming…be patient. Practice and all is coming, said Sri Pattabhi Jois. I use the spinal breathing method described in the book “Advanced Yoga Practices”. (http://www.aypsite.org/)
My advice is: don’t jump straight into meditation without toning the body and breath first. Some people can – hey, we’re all different – but many people can’t. And don’t give up. Propel yourself forward on wings of faith. Look up at the sky and realise that the Universe is boundless and you are a speck and rejoice in all the incredible freedom that gives you. OM.
Look at yourself: Yoga & the mirror
Yoga studios rarely come equipped with mirrors, unless you are doing the undeniably self-conscious Bikram yoga. Perhaps this is because yoga itself is the mirror.
A few weeks ago, I posted about still feeling dislocated here in Altea. It takes time to settle in. But, more than that, by writing my thoughts down and sharing them with the world, I continued the process of self-analysis that is yoga. Yoga and mirror. Whatever you give, you get.
I still agree with myself in most of what I said. but I am willing to swallow my pride – and my words – and ask your kind forgiveness for my til-then blindness. When I said that I could not understand how the folk round here could be so glum while surrounded by this wild natural beauty, what I was really asking was “Rachel, how can you be glum when surrounded by all this natural beauty?” Good question, eh?
Since then, I realise that I was simply prioritising my worries about work-family-life (the same ones you have, I am sure) and putting them ahead of my enjoyment of the here and now. Looking at the mountains in the Calpe pass, I would think “what am I doing here” rather than “what beautiful rusty colours, what textures and lines!” This is pretty common behaviour, people. Yoga helps train the mind, keeping it on the straight and narrow and avoiding all wallowing and distraction.
Right now, in my Yoga Therapy training, we are studying the third book of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. In sutras III:9-16, Patanjali exposes the new state of mind that arises when we have fully integrated into our lives the first five limbs of Astanga Yoga (as set out in book 2). We are now approaching contemplation, Dharana. The mind is able to glimpse states of serenity, but theses are interspersed with the usual fluctuations and distractions. Nevertheless, the mind is becoming increasing able to concentrate. I find the sutras amazing because they really are very accurate in their portrayal of the milestones on the road of yoga. Or, in my case they are. Bear in mind that each person’s experience of yoga is unique and precious.
So, Rachel, look in the mirror. Choose happiness and helps others find theirs. This is the road of the yogini and the yoga teacher.
Festival de Danza Consciente
Ojo! Los días 5, 6 y 7 de abril se celebrará el 1º Festival de Danza Consciente en Villajoyosa. En la web oficial del festival, http://valuodesarrollo.wordpress.com/ aparecen todos los detalles, Sin embargo, hay que ponerse en contacto con los organizadores para obtener el programa completo y los precios.
Los precios no son hiper-economicos, pero tampoco exagerados. Por ejemplo, para estar todo el día el sábado, y comer y cenar allí, se paga unos €64. No se si habrá algún mercadillo, pero supongo que si. Lo cual significa un pequeño gasto extra – este incienso que no encuentras en tu pueblo, ó un zafu super chulo…
Si, estamos cruzando tiempos de malestar económico. A mi manera de ver las cosas, apoyandonos el uno al otro esta cada vez más importante. Eso significa gastar nuestro dinero en una manera consciente. Yo, desde ya hace muchissimos años, control mi impacto en el mundo a través de mis elecciónes económicas. Comprando en pequeños negocios, comprando en rastros y de segunda mano, y regalando las cosas que ya no me sirven.
Un festival como ese, Danza Consciente, es no solo una inversión en tu proprio desarollo, sino en el desarollo de nuestra comunidad. La Costa Blanca está saturada de terapeutas, downshifters y todo clase de busquedor. Aqui y ahora lo estamos poniendo en marcha, con eventos como este.
Y, por supuesto, ¿que es la Danza Consciente? Pues, en las tradiciones Tántricas del Yoga, se considera que toda la Creación está metido en un baile eterno y Universal. Siva, el Dios Védico, esta muy frequentemente representado en movimiento, con una pierna elevada, apoyandose sobre el otro pie, pisando una creatura miserable. Este creatura es la ignoracia. Siva está bailando el Baile Cósmico, aplastando la ignorancia. El yoga es una especie de baile, movimientos muy meditados y coordinados, con el fin de percibir y controlar la energía corporal sutíl, el Prana. Entonces, este festival, con varios actuaciones de lineage Kundalini, será un yoga tántrico con el fin de mover tu prana. Será un lugar salvo y una comunidad de apoyo, seguramente, el lo cual podemos atrevernos a dejar pasar la Luz por nuestras grietas, sin miedo ni apuro.
¡Vamonos, amigos!
Tending the Fire
There is much talk of fire in most Yoga texts and teachings. Fire is one of the 5 elements, the others being Air, Water, Earth and Ether/Space. Fire is felt to transform matter from one state to another. Its sinuous flames remind us nearly of liquid, so despite its “hot” quality, it is also intimately associated with Water, Water being its equal and opposite.
The path of yoga is one of transformation. We learn new ways to move, think, breathe and be still, and thus we transform ourselves from one type of person into another. We are still ourselves, but we have changed, shed a skin or grown a new one. Thus, stoking the fire of transformation is of utmost importance.
In hatha yoga, we do this mainly through postures associated with the abdominal region. We also practise breathing techniques that emphasize the inhale and breath retention with lungs full. Other lineages may follow other methods, and these are all legitimate. You are always in control of your yoga practice, and are free to choose the branch of yoga that most satisfies your heart and soul.
This winter, I have learned to tend the hearth. I have never before lived in a house with a working fireplace, let alone relied upon it as my main heat source! But, I am open to change. I had call to be the sole firelighter for a period of nearly two weeks. I struggled mightily at first, sitting near it, blowing desperately on rapidly dwindling sticks and leaves and bits of paper. Once, I managed a roaring inferno on the first go, but most nights heard me cursing the whole rustic life and yearning to go back to the city and central heating.
But I persisted.
I discovered that the paper I use on my massage couch serves perfectly as a recycled firelighter. Light, and slightly oil-streaked, it takes immediately and burns hot. I learnt the value of the small bits of kindling that my partner lovingly chops, and how to tell if wood if green or dry. I am now a one-match woman. I can set and light a fire in about ten minutes, and tend it carefully for hours. I watch it and poke it and generally feel it to be a living presence in my home.
I think that our inner Fire is the same. It needs the right material to start it up, and the right material and rhythm to keep it burning brightly. We need to pay attention to it, feeding it more when it needs it, and leaving it to rest when it doesn´t. Cared for properly, our inner Fire helps us efficiently transform our food into healthy tissue and keeps us energetic and motivated.
Weak Fire leaves us sluggish, uninspired and waterlogged. We feel like we are walking in soaked through clothing. A Fire burning too brightly manifests in a flushed face, quick temper and impatience. Remember, a person may have imbalance of one Element in the physical body, while having a completely different Elemental layout in the realm of the Mind.
So, tend your Fire, dear souls.
A Loose Association of Free Thinkers
What do I want?
I struggle to find happiness in the day to day. I suffer loneliness and dislocation. This melancholy has been with me all my adult life. It forms a big part of what my ego likes to define as “me”. Persistent dissatisfaction brings only weariness. But, it is also the motor for all my most persistent and faithful delvings into the spiritual life. When we are awake enough to perceive our own slavery, it is inevitable that we will rattle at the bars until we glimpse freedom. The great trick of modern social organisation is to enslave everyone in its machinery, but make them delight in their drudgery.
Today, my friend listened a while to my longstanding list of grumbles. Then she asked: “what do you want”. Well, Naty, here is your answer.
I want to connect with others on the path of change. I want to surround myself with a community of like minded believers – a loose association of free thinkers. I want to work towards the betterment of womankind, mankind, humankind, in concrete, daily ways. I want to better myself deep in my core, so that I can shine that same light out into the world. I want to see clearly – without the clouds of deception caused by drugs, alcohol, television. I want to be one of a tribe of lovers-healers-dreamers-thinkers who truly believe that a safer, stabler, more honest and free world is possible – and doable – now, within my lifetime. I want to teach my daughter to think big, to dream beyond the boundaries of tradition, location and education. I want to sit still in group meditation, solitary contemplation, with others and feel the spirit rise and fall in my breath. I want to look into the unguarded eyes of other adults and know that within lives true Love.
I can’t do this alone. This is something so big, so beautiful and so dear to me that I have to share it . I don’t hate Altea. I just despair that amidst such glorious natural beauty, can live people so fearful, suspicious and stuck. I miss the modern world, where ideas, creativity and faith mix to build new shapes for living. I don’t dream of escape by any means. It’s the opposite – I am so completely alive, so completely aware, that I need the comradeship of others on the Path, all too aware the change is hard, painful, but infinitely worth it.
Most of us had big dreams when we were young. Life taught us to give up our dreams, finish school, get jobs, earn money, save up for holidays and retirement and…oh, forget about those fanciful dreams. I never stopped dreaming. My teenage angst is still with me, torturing me with questions like “why is the world so unfair?” “why do we spend more money on arms than on schools?” “why is the world run by grey-haired men?” and “why are so forgetful of our divine birthright?”.
Why am I not happy here? Because this angst is with me, wherever I am. I practice yoga and meditation and I focus-re-focus-re-focus on my inner light. But I am not going to retire to a cave or an ashram. Krishna taught that the yoga of action is the path of the true seeker. When your karma (action/work) and your dharma (path) unite, you achieve liberation. I know that my own healing journey is only to make to strong and resilient to face whatever it is I have to face in this world. I know that my karma is to effect change, but not alone. That, I know.
For now, I am on the road of humility. Humility, vulnerability, honesty, deep faith. Idealism. That’s it, in a word. I am an idealist. I will never stop believing. But, it is crushing to dream alone.
Reflections on friendship
A friend posted this on Facebook. I was going to share, and comment, but the space there seemed short, for what I wanted to say.
Where to start? At first, I thought, yeah! a true friend who is there no matter what, non judging always loving blah blah blah. And then I thought, who’s that person in my life? And then I thought – I myself am not a true friend to myself. I hate it when I am broke. I castigate myself when I am a bitch. I flog myself for a messy house, OK, my car is fine, but I over-analyse my past and my oddball family. So, why am I not my own true friend? Could the answer to my persistent loneliness be befriending myself?
Maybe it’s affirmation time? (watch out cynics!)
Rachel, you are fine with or without money.
Rachel, you a fine a little thinner or a little thicker.
Rachel, your past is your past, you are here because of everything you’ve chosen, learned, dared and allowed to enter your life. Accept it, cherish it, love it. Love the family you’ve created here and now, don’t worry about the rest. So re-post, Rachel, you have a true friend. Yourself.
I think I just made a New Year’s Resolution, no?
Letting go…
As autumn draws inexorably towards the Long Cold, we, too, draw inwards. Observing the inevitability of change, and loss and dying off, melancholy tugs at our hearts. Autumn is the season of the Lung, whose emotion is grief and sadness and whose element is metal. In Hindu thought, Shiva rules the moribund phase of things…that which must be left to die, so leaving space for that which is yet to come.
Last night, we built a mandala of autumn fruits and leaves. We then, privately, chose and noted the thing whose release is nigh. Next, our papers were thrown on the roaring fire and transformed to ash. Afterwards, tea and biscuits and free dancing.
Thank you.
Tomorrow, yoga@Prana, Benidorm, 9AM, 2PM…AUM
I choose LiFe! (Dancing from Within)
The only way to get on in this craaaazy world is to adapt. When we resist we harden. Have you ever noticed how many diseases of ageing have to do with hardening? Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), arthrosis (hardening of the joints), spondylitis (in all its delightful forms), bones spurs, bunions, corns and calluses…to be aged is to be stiff. Little children are wonderfully malleable. So are those who eat properly and do yoga. In the midst of the hard-core, half-baked world, I choose LiFe!
I choose to celebrate life through yoga, friends and movement. Tomorrow, I am hosting my first ever “Dancing From Within”, an event inspired by the goings-on over the pond and conceived to combine green juice, yoga, mantra and free movement. I invited eight yoga teachers from the ‘hood. Only one replied. I spent the day feeling rejected. It was interesting to observe my tried and true reflex – have a drink – kicking in and kicking me about. I observed it, stayed with the feeling of rejection, and it passed. I considered never talking to them again. Then I decided that isn’t the best decision I could make. The best decision I could make is to …not worry about it! Go ahead with my plans, make the most of it, even if it’s just me, Simone and Sandra. Who’s making that judgement “just”? Is it valid? NO!
A ver que pasa mañana…
A good quality for a yoga teacher
We can make our mind so like still water that beings gather about us to see their own images, and so far a moment live a clearer, perhaps even fiercer, life because of our quiet – W.B. Yeats.
Yum yum yum!!
Tri-color juice on Simone’s new colorful table…
